Well, I still more or less stick to the above statement, but I decided that since Diablo handles AC differently than many other games do, I should give a few more details. In many games, AC is compared to the melee damage that a particular attacker can potentially do, and if AC is greater than the potential damage, no damage will occur. On the other hand, if the potential damage is greater than AC, damage will be assessed, but in many games, the AC will reduce the amount of damage suffered by the defender. For example, if an attacker can do 25 points of melee damage, an AC of 20 means only 5 points of damage will be inflicted on the defender.

In Diablo, AC of a defender is compared to the "to Hit %" of an attacker. For melee attacks, if AC is greater than the "to Hit %," no damage occurs.

A common newbie misconception is that AC will help protect against spell attacks. AC itself has no affect on whether or not you will be hit by a spell, or how much damage you will suffer if you are.

On the other hand, armor (including headgear and shields) can bear modifiers which do give some protection from spell attacks. So, if you are wearing a Jade Mail (AC 22), the 22 AC only affects melee attacks, but the Jade prefix will give you from 21-30% resistance to spell attacks from the three major types of magic (note, it won't have any affect on Diablo's Apocalypse spells). See: melee; modifiers; resistance.

[This entry still under construction!]

However, be aware that, even minimized, Diablo seems to eat up a lot of resources, and response of your machine might be sluggish. You probably couldn't stand to open up Word or something like that and try to work with Diablo minimized. Even a utility program like Windows Explorer takes a lot longer to do anything than normal, if you use it while Diablo is minimized. [At least, it does on my machine - I have a 233 MHz AMD K-6 with 64 MB of RAM - maybe a 500+ MHz Pentium II or higher might not be so bad.]

One reason you might want to use this is to avoid having to watch the ending movie for the umpteenth time! Although interesting (especially in light of how that is used to set up the storyline in Diablo 2), once you've watched the ending movie several times, enough is enough. So, if you are in that situation, when the ending movie starts, simply ALT-Tab out of the program for a few seconds, then activate the program again. IIRC correctly, you will be at the menu screen, asking you if you wish to quit, start a new game, etc.

It is usually used on the DSF to refer to simple diagrams done just with standard (i.e., ASCII) characters. This way, the diagram will display properly on almost all computers, regardless of what particular fonts, programs, etc., they are set up to support. Here's an example of an ASCII diagram, a sword made using ASCII characters by BelKirill:

||

<==============O====o ||

[Modified, from Barage: "The use of a trainer to automatically kill a monster or player. The action is 'tagged' onto another spell. For example, the spell resurrection is commonly 'hacked' to become an autokill. Suddenly, the player can simply cast the spell and kill instead of rez. Heal other is also a commonly used option."

According to a post by Roland 'the Gunslinger,' the formula to calculate autohit AC is: 385 - 2*clvl. That means that a clvl 30 warrior will need an AC of 325 to reduce Hell/Hell Blood Knights (which have the highest toHit% in the game) to their autohit percentage.

One thing most newbies don't realize is that the DSF back pages are active -- many veteran posters go back and add comments to older messages -- sometimes exchanges between posters can occur two-three weeks or even later after the original posting. Many newbies look for answers to their questions immediately, and then forget about it. If you have posted a question on the DSF, it is worth going back and checking for additional replies after a few days. You never know, someone else might have posted additional information that you would find helpful, even if you got an adequate answer within a day or two of posting your question.

From Nystul [slightly modified]: "B.net since the 1.05 patch serves 2 purposes when you are in a game of Diablo. It allows people to join your game from b.net (duh) and allows you to communicate through messages and whispers with any other users on b.net (this was not true prior to the 1.05 patch). However, unlike Starcrap or Diablo II (realms), the game of Diablo itself is actually quite independent of b.net. Your computer is in direct communication with the others you are gaming with. It is for this reason that it always seems strange that people blame lag on b.net. Anyways, you can see then that when you lose connection to b.net the game continues with no problem."

"The things you lose are the ability to whisper or message other people on b.net. In order for someone to join the game, the player in the 0 slot must still have a connection to b.net. The 0 slot is occupied by the creator of the game unless that player leaves then it goes down the line until someone joins in and refills the spot."

Modified, from HowGozit: "DON'T let [your character] get swarmed when he has low armour count and highish dexterity. He'll go into what I'll call 'block lock'. A lot of the hits are being blocked, but he can't hit back. You can't get stuff out of your inventory either - the pots won't lift up because the program is handling the blocking animation. You need to walk away from the crowd to start grabbing potions."

Note that there is a bug in the game, so that the bonus is not applied (i.e., equals zero), except in the first game.

However, the reason these spells are not very useful overall is that immunity or resistance to magic spells is the most common immunity/resistance found in monsters! Resistance reduces the damage by 3/4, so that means a 600-HP monster with magic resistance would only take 50 points damage from a Bone Spirit, rather than 200 (if I did the math correctly ;) ).

One monster that some people do use Bone Spirit against are Azure Drakes. At Normal and Nightmare difficulty, Azure Drakes have no immunity or resistance to magic-realm spells, and have enough hit points to make reducing them by 1/3 worthwhile.

Also, I believe that Bone Spirit can be cast over walls, on monsters that are out of sight, so, if the BS "takes", you know there are monsters there, and probably which ones.

Furthermore, IIRC, this will activate the monster, and they will come looking for you, so you can use this to help thin out the mobs in rooms by standing outside of the room and casting a Bone Spirit into the room.

An unusual aspect of Bone Spirit is that casting it costs you 6 life (or 6 extra mana if you have Mana Shield active). This cost comes even if you cast the spell from a staff. See: BS; Drakes; immunity; magic; resistance.

Also, Jarulf notes that in PvP, Bone Spirit takes only 1/6 of the target's life. See: PvP.

Also can refer to certain droppings from a bull (general internet usage). (an addition by Finnan Haddie)

Well, another post-Diablo2 change: Blizzard has closed down the BTS Forum (possibly because of the volume and nasty tone of D2-related queries); now they only have a few canned tech-support write-ups available.

<sigh>The Diablo universe is not set in stone - things change. With the 1.08 patch for Diablo that Blizzard released in June 2000, and which you have to install if you now want to play Diablo on B.net, the multi-player save files are now also in the Diablo directory. This means some backup programs no longer work for MP save files. Windows Explorer, however, will still work. Happily, your multi-player files are no longer tied into the computers network name, so it is easier to transfer your multiplayer save files to another computer (at least, if that computer's Diablo has been upgraded to 1.08; my understanding is that 1.07 cannot read 1.08 files, even if you rename them and put them in the Windows directory - but I am still learning about the ramifications of the 1.08 patch).

However, note that characters under clvl 15 or so, especially under 10, level up so fast, that not much can usually be said about them. :) Many people won't bother to evaluate such a character, because another hour or two of playing it will change almost everything.

From Mirajj: "A grouping of people of a like mind who like gaming together. Typically a StarCraft term, more than a Diablo one. Some of the bigger, well known clans are the Snakegod clan, the Tarot clan, and the Ordo Rosae."

On the other hand, Hellfire does have the Jersey's Jersey Quest, for which the reward is the Bovine Plate, possibly put in the game to pay homage to or to take advantage of the persistent rumors.

Well, with the release of Diablo 2, the mythical Cow Level apparently becomes real. After years of denying that a secret cow level exists in Diablo (reportedly, a password somewhere in Starcraft is "There is no cow level" or something like that), Blizzard added a secret cow level to Diablo 2. I haven't seen it yet myself, so I won't believe it 100% until I do, but the reports coming out about D2's cow level seem to be serious.

It also can refer to a mod for Hellfire (officially, "Hellfire -- The Dark). See: mod.

From Thecla (modified): "The problem is that v1.00 is not completely compatible with character files from v1.02--v1.08. If you run v1.00 of Diablo with multiplayer character files from a later version, up to v1.08, then the moment you click the 'multiplayer' option on the main menu (you don't even need to start a game) you get a message that says something like 'Error found in character files, attempting to fix'. The game 'fixes' the error by stripping all multiplayer characters of all their items."

Demons are not affected by the class of weapon; i.e., blunts, sharps, and all other weapons do the stated DAM to demons. On the other hands, a couple of unique weapons (Bloodslayer, Deadly Hunter) have a special attribute of increased damage to demons (also, see: CC, for a special case).

On the other hand, this property is stackable, so wearing several items with a -dfe characteristic can become more effective. See: cursed items; enhancers; HD; modifiers; ScCp; stack.

[August 2000] Well, apparently the DSW is no more - as far as I know, most or all of the sites that were involved are still around, but the Webring itself seems to have bit the dust, so I have deleted the former link from my Links section. Too bad, I thought it was a useful concept.

A commonly asked question on the DSF is "Is it possible to pick up the items Diablo drops?" The answer is yes, but those that have done it several times say that it is hardly worth the trouble. When it comes to dropping items, Diablo is treated as a regular, high-level monster (mlvl 30, equal to BK's, SB's, and Advocates). That means, most of the time he will not drop anything, sometimes he will drop gold, sometimes a spell book or potion, sometimes a regular (non-magical) item, and only very rarely a magical item.

To get an item that Diablo drops, if you are playing MP, simply have one member of the party stay on a level other than 16 while Diablo is being killed. This way, those on 16 will see the ending movie, but the game will not end, and after the movie ends, you can search the area where Diablo died to see what, if anything, he dropped.

If you are playing SP or solo-MP, it is more complicated. From Armin (modified): "Now, if you're alone it gets a bit complicated. You'll need some way to kill Diablo that allows you to do something else. Firewall would be the method of choice (maybe guardians), just stand with your back to a wall and have a spell or two auto-attacking him while you block his attacks.Stand there, have a free spot in inventory 2x3 large (so any item will fit) and BEFORE Diablo starts spurting blood, cast Telekinesis, but don't click on anything yet. Just stand there and wait for the moment, with the arrow cursor active until he finally dies (caution: you can't drink pots in that time, so timing might be a tad difficult). THEN you can click on the item he drops and have the thing in inventory in the next game. ... In theory, he can drop an obs-zod, but it's really too unlikely to bother. Killing 50 BK's is faster than all the hassle to get D's drops)."

Of course, if you feel like it, go ahead and do it! Who knows, you might be one of the lucky ones to get that obs-zod. :)

Hellfire, the Expansion Pack, allows single-player to be played in one of three difficulty levels, similar to Diablo's three multiplayer levels. One solution, for those bored with Diablo single-player but who don't want to move to mutliplayer, is to get Hellfire. You can import your high-level single-player character from Diablo into Hellfire and play that character at Nightmare or Hell difficulty (however, no equipment will transfer, only gold, so sell your stuff first!). Also, for those seeking a real challenge, IIRC, Hellfire does not do a clvl check, so you can start a NM or Hell difficulty game at any clvl, even clvl 1!

However, there is a bug/oversight in the Diablo code that allows one to play SP at NM and Hell difficulties. The catch is that to do it, you need a MP character of at least 20 or 30 clvl to do it. To do this, start Diablo, choose MP, then select your 20 or 30 level character, and create a new game at NM or Hell difficulty. Then back out of the menu structure until you get the SP/MP choice (do not quit Diablo altogether). Now, choose SP, and the SP character you want to play. The game you create will be at NM or Hell difficulty. However, the difficulty level is not saved in the saved-game file, so you need to go through this process each time you want to play SP at higher difficulty. Most people conclude it is simply easier to play MP (though some play only solo-MP). See: solo-MP.

Recently, I read that, if you kill Diablo for the first time on a particular difficutly, you have to let the ending video at least start; if you bypass it completely, you supposedly won't get your dot.

"Dragon's" is also a prefix used to modify items; it is the highest of the prefixes that add to your mana total, giving you 51-60 extra mana points. This makes it a highly desired prefix to find on items, but it is rather rare. It is only found on jewelry and staves. Reportedly, Dragon's jewelry of the Zodiac are almost as commonly duped items on public b.net as obs/zods.

Also, the "Drake's" prefix, found on staves and jewelry, gives +41-50 mana, second only to the "Dragon's"and "Wizardry" prefixes among mana-adding prefixes in Diablo (though Hellfire has the "Wyrm's" and "Hydra's" prefixes which are higher, but those can only be found on staves).

Purchased items begin with full durability (e.g., if you buy a Small Axe from Griswald, it will have 24/24 durability). However, items found in the dungeon usually show some wear-and-tear (e.g., a Small Axe may be 11/24). Unique items found usually begin with full durability. Durability can be repaired by Griswald, for a fee. Hidden Shrines will "heal" durability on most items that are equipped, but at a cost of reducing one item by 10 DUR. Warriors can repair their own equipment, but at the cost of a loss of durability. Even a high-level warrior will cause a small decrease in durability. Unless you are sure that you will only use an item for a short time, it is usually best to pay Gris to repair it, or look for Hidden shrines.

Originally, you almost had to be "in the know" to find out about how to find Easter Eggs. However, nowadays, it has become common to widely release the methods for accessing them.

Diablo has one Easter Egg, that I know of. In the initial screen that comes up when the CD is auto-run, there are two hidden messages. However, the instructions for how to see them are just too long to give here. The Secret Cow Level in D2 might be considered an Easter Egg, but how to get to the Secret Cow Level is becoming one of the worst kept secrets of history. ;)

However, Hellfire has a few Easter Eggs. By default, you can only get the Monk character class in version 1.0 of HF, but there is a way to make the Bard available. If you install the 1.01 patch, you can play the Barbarian as well. In addition, there are two hidden quests, but one of them is not an extra quest; rather, if activated, it substitutes for one of the new, HF-only quests. Instructions for activating the HF Easter Eggs can be found in SoulEdge's write-up in the "Essays, etc." section.

The elemental damage on melee weapons has multiple chances to hit, but the damage is only applied once. However, the 'elemental damage from arrow' routine is buggy, and sometimes the elemental damage is applied several times, leading to large total damage. Some people feel that using elemental bows is cheesy, a few even think that doing so is bug exploitation. Few experienced rogues use elemental bows, because it is so common in the deeper levels of the dungeon to get levels with monsters of mixed resistances and immunities. This means that, either you need to be switching bows frequently, or your bow is less effective against the monsters that are immune or resistant to the particular elemental attack of that bow.

The Sparking Mail is a unique case (pun intended :) ). See: SM; Sparking Mail.

Also, if I am interpreting JG correctly, the elemental attack from melee weapons will be halved in PvP attacks, but, probably due to a bug, an elemental attack from an arrow will not be!

There are also two quest special potions, the Golden Elixir and the Spectral Elixir. See: Golden Elixir; Spectral Elixir.

Etherealize is one of the unused spells (Blood Boil is another).

IIRC, Etherealize made you invulnerable for a period of time, but the designers apparently decided it was too powerful a spell, so it was deactivated. When Etherealize is in effect, a ring appears over your head. Some trainer-writers have made the graphic available with their programs, so if you see someone in a public b.net game with a ring over their head (as contrasted with, e.g., the MS ball), you can be sure that they are using a trainer program. I have read conflicting reports as to whether or not the Etherealize graphic is tied into some spell effect or not. It might vary from trainer to trainer, but some might have actually implemented the Etherealize spell. A recent reference to "Godly Mana Shield" on the DSF might well have been unknowingly referring to the Spell of Etherealize.

Some mod-makers have also taken advantage of the unused spell graphics, to activate those unused spells, or to add new spells to their mods.

Modified, from Evil~Teletubby!: "...these spells were supposed to be on page 5, which you can find by clicking on the small space between the page 4 tab and the edge of the spell book."

Note that you won't get any XP from killing a monster more than 10 mlvls below your clvl. So, if your character is clvl 15, you won't get any XP from killing the monsters on dlvl 1.

If you want to get an idea of where a certain clvl character gets XP most efficiently, see Soul Toucher's famous Experience Point Table, in the "Essays, etc." section ("Everyone else got a higher level char, and you want one too! What to you do then? Cheat? No way! Cheating is low-life! With this table, you can easily find out where your character gains the most experience points, and get those points like a real player!"). Amen, Soul Toucher!

I decided it was worth adding this "nit" from a post from Jarulf concerning the XP table: "Just note that the table for the lowest levels does not take into account the second cap applicable to exp points, that is, 1/20th of the exp needed for the next clvl. It should give slightly less exp for the first few levels. Otherwise it is an excellent table."

In Single Player, you get the full XP assigned to Normal Difficulty if you kill the monster. Normally, you can't take advantage of the higher XP possible in NM and Hell difficulties. However, there is a way around this; see: difficulty level.

In MP, you might not get the full potential XP. This is because there are two XP caps that come into play. The most common one is that the maximum XP that can be gained by killing a monster is 200*clvl. That means that a clvl 30 character is capped at a maximum possible 6000 XP per monster, even when killing monsters with more "assigned" XP than that (e.g., Blood Knights on NM difficulty have an assigned XP of 12260). When you reach clvl 40, that same BK would be worth 8000 XP. The cap is why it is sometimes more "efficient" to play at dlvls and difficulties below what you can handle (study SoulToucher's Experience Point Table, listed in the "Essays, etc." section to see what I mean).

There is another experience point cap that usually only applies to low-level characters. The most XP that a character can earn is: (total experience points needed for next level) / 20. So, a clvl 1 character can't earn more than 100 XP per kill, because 2000 XP are needed to get to clvl 2. A clvl 2 character can earn a maximum of 231 XP per kill (4620/20).

For more about the word "flame", see "The Jargon Lexicon" in the Links section in the Archive of Chaos.

Goat Shrines can occur on any level that has Goat Men or Goat Archers (4-9). See: cauldrons; FOS.

From Gilmere (modified): "You know those illegal programs I mentioned above? The ones scanners can't detect? Those are generally (though somewhat incorrectly) referred to as hacks, and their use, hacking; you may also see them referred to as trainers. These insidious programs can do things like making characters unkillable ('god-mode'), allowing them to kill monsters or other players with a single click of a mouse button (auto-kill) and creating items that are impossible to get in the game. They remove any need for skill in the game, reducing it to adventures in mouse-button-testing. Use of these things is cheating..." Yes, I too remember the days when the terms "hacker" and "hack" were compliments, not referring to unethical or illegal people and their activities ("cracker" is a term that can be used for the latter). However, the mass media has been misusing the terms for so long, I am not sure it's possible to correct the situation.

Most regulars on the forum, although firm in the opinion that using hacks, trainers, duped items, etc., is cheating, will concede they don't care what you do in single-player games, or in solo-MP games on Battle.net. However, if you use them in a public game with legit players, you are gaining an unfair advantage over those players, and such activity is strongly criticized. Besides, ultimately you are also cheating yourself out of the fun and challenge of playing Diablo the way it was meant to be played.

[from Bolty's High-level Warrior Guide] "'Happy Feet,' a term first coined by Woody, involves running in a specific way to avoid taking 95% of the shots fired at you. Used when advancing to and retreating from an enemy for Warriors, it can help minimize the damage you're taking while you're not killing something. The idea is to run in a zig-zag line, crossing over perpendicular to your enemies."

Actually, the general idea of Happy Feet can be a useful tactic for all characters -- I use it frequently with my sorcerors, especially against witches in Hell, but also at times against archers, acid spitters, etc. Don't just stand there, exchanging ranged attacks with an enemy, and taking damage! Instead, dodge and weave, zig and zag, cast a spell or two or three, then move again before the enemy can reacquire you as a target.

July 2000: Well, this entry is a good example of how things change on the DSF, sometimes rapidly. When I wrote the above entry a few months ago, I don't recall ever reading that part of the reason for the effectiveness of this technique was based on a bug. However, if I understand correctly what I have read in the past couple of months, this technique in part takes advantage of a bug similar to (or the same as, it's not clear to me which) the one responsible for the "targeting bug." Some have said using this is not "bug exploitation" because the monsters are taking advantage of the same bug! :) See: targeting bug.

A further change to note is that one of the few (maybe only) game-play changes made to the game by the infamous 1.08 patch this spring, made using "Happy Feet" much less effective. Veteran players are baffled why Blizzard would bother to tinker with such a minor bug, and leave other, much more bothersome bugs untouched. Some speculate that this may have been an accidental byproduct of some other, yet-unnoticed change. Unfortunately, most of the code-reading types who might have tracked this down in the past, are now involved heavily with Diablo 2, so maybe this will never be answered.

From Mirajj: "Clarification: Hardcore is a playing style, Immortal Hero is the variant, coined by Pete. If you play Hardcore, any time you die, you delete the character. IIRC, there are some restrictions on the IH variant, while a hardcore character can be anything you want it to be."

Although I don't remember ever reading about this, it seems to me that those who are looking for more of a challenge in single player (and who don't want to move on to multiplayer) could play SP in Hardcore mode. That means, if you die, no more restoring from the last saved game - that character has died, and you will have to start a new one.

However, items of the Harmony series are not a cure-all, and might be of little help for low AC characters at NM and Hell difficulties. Still, my now-clvl 44 Sorcerer found a Jade Full Plate Mail of Harmony in his high twenties, and while I have experimented with several other nice armors, I've always ended up going back to that one. But Hell-difficulty Lava Maws are that character's bane if I let them close to melee distance.

Note that wearing two items from the series has no more benefit than one. On the other hand, wearing one of each of the three does have an additional bonus (see: Zen Harmony). See: hit recovery; stun-lock.

From Gilmere: "'Of harmony' affects your character's recovery. When you are stunned (taking more damage than your character's level, or taking damage from a spell that you have no resistance to), your character goes thru an animation of responding to the hit... this is the character's recovery phase. 'Of Harmony' removes some of the frames from this animation, so your character recovers more quickly. Faster recovery means less chance of being stun-locked, and gets you back to attacking more quickly." From Rhydderch Hael: "Stability, Balance, and Harmony stack up because while they have the same effect, they are at different values, forcing the game to compute each one individually."

This is, I think, more common than the Stormshield. However its AC is not as high. Remember that, because warrior's naturally have the equivalent of fastblock, they do not benefit from that aspect of fastblock shields. See: -dfe; fastblock; SS.

Also, sometimes used to refer to RL ;).

Note that the MP mode referred to above never allowed playing HF on Battle.net. There are a couple of unauthorized patches available that allow one to play HF in solo-MP mode or in true MP mode using Kali or Heat.net.

For reasons why high-level Hidden are dangerous, and some ideas on coping with them, see my essay "The Hidden: A Survival Guide" in the Essay section of the Archive of Chaos.

"Hiddens" also commonly refers to Hidden Shrines, one of the most useful shrines in the game. Basically, Hidden Shrines add 10 points to the durability of all but one of the (non-indestructible) items that you have equipped; that one item loses 10 points of durability. Hidden Shrines deserve a longer write-up, but I don't have time right now - maybe later. :) See: durability; indestructible.

There are a series of suffixes which decrease the time needed for hit recovery. They are not stackable, except for the rarely used case of equipping three items which between them have all three hit recovery suffixes. See: stun; stun-locked; Zen Harmony.